Drink Of The Week: Negroni

If Your Bartender Can't Make This... Fire Him

Try standing on your stool after a couple. They say the Count could do it.

A little history with your buzz...

Like most dudes called “Count” in turn-of-the-century Florence, Count Camillo Negroni could party. So they say. And his liver, salty as a soldier, wasn’t much moved by comparatively candy-ass aperitifs like the then-popular Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda). So he asked his bartender to substitute gin for the soda. And the Negroni — granddaddy of all before-dinner cocktails — was born. So they say. No one really knows, because they were all drunk on Negronis back then. But it’s a nice story. (Fun fact: The Negroni family, looking to capitalize on the drink’s success, produced a premixed version of the cocktail called Antico Negroni in 1919, anticipating the Smirnoff Mojito by a good 80 years).

Hair-on-your-chest-factor: 90/100

Don’t be fooled by its festive color, or its herbal, citrus nose: The Negroni is one mean hombre, boozy as a Manhattan. And since it’s technically an aperitif, it’s often enjoyed before the meal on an empty stomach (buyer beware). It’s a classic cocktail, a grown-up’s cocktail. Bracing, unique, made not to disguise the alcohol flavors, but to celebrate them. Campari’s medicinal orange character is tamed by the aromatic sweet vermouth, and gin shoots through that unlikely pair like sunlight through slated blinds. Somer Perez, Beverage Consultant for New York City-based Couture Cocktails (and Negroni fan), says, “I love the sophisticated simplicity of a Negroni. You wouldn’t expect these ingredients to go together, but in the right hands, they marry beautifully.” Perez uses the Negroni to teach her bartenders the importance of balance. And you can too. Seriously, try standing on your stool after a couple. They say the Count could do it.